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Volume 41, Issue 10
February 17, 2004
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February 17, 2004
E-mail caution prevents worm
Maria Khan
Contributing Writer
A new computer worm called MyDoom is circulating in the United States
and abroad.
This virus looks like a regular e-mail message but is actually a program
that spreads itself and installs a program that leaves an open door to
infected computers.
What worries Microsoft program technicians is that MyDoom is an example
of a new breed of professionally created worms that are difficult to
detect and can move a lot faster.
The technicians say that the creation of MyDoom was funded by e-mail
spammers. The worm takes possession of a computer-either at home or in
a business and turns the machine into a remotely controlled robot programmed
to send spam e-mail messages.
With hundreds of these zombie computers sending spam, the chances of
shutting down the flow is almost zero. This virus is targeted to large
companies in the United States and their computers’ large address
books. It runs on computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating
systems, though other computers were affected by slow network and a flood
of bogus messages.
The question here is, are MCC computers ready for a virus like this?
Kenneth
Kuhns, supervisor of computer repair on campus, says that the campus
computers are regularly updated with new anti-virus software. He warns
that students and
faculty need to be careful of the attachments they receive in their e-mails.
Students and faculty should not open e-mail attachments if they are not expecting
one.
Loren McGrew, technical support of the campus computer repair said, “We
learned last year to install new anti-virus software because of the Code Red,
Welcha and Blaster viruses that came through and crippled the campus network.”
He also added that there is no control from students and faculty possibly bringing
the virus from home on their personal laptop computers. This is because MCC is
licensed for only for campus computer anti-virus and repair. Kuhns said that
any faculty or student who is unsure if their anti-virus program is update should
call the help desk at (480) 461-7000, ext. 17217. MyDoom is not the first e-mail
based virus of the year. Earlier in January, a worm called “Bagle” infected
computers but died out quickly. Microsoft technicians say that so far it is hard
to determine if MyDoom will continue to be a problem or if it will peter out,
feeling they will have a better sense of this in future days.
All anyone can do is be really careful with what e-mail files they open.
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